Canadian Lumberjacks Go To War

By Elinor Florence
Elinor Florence Blog
November 8, 2024
Category: Special Feature
Region: Canada

Thousands of lumberjacks, members of the Canadian Forestry Corps, logged the forests of Scotland during the Second World War to produce desperately-needed lumber for the war effort. Among them were Carl and Jack Jones, two brothers from Invermere, British Columbia. In a world filled with manmade materials, it is easy to forget that during wartime there was an extremely high demand for WOOD. It was estimated that every soldier needed the equivalent of five trees: one for living quarters and recreation; one for crates to ship food, ammunition, tanks, and other equipment; and three for explosives, gun stocks, ships and factories. Many of them, sadly, needed wood for their own coffins. The Canadian Forestry Corps, a military unit of the Canadian Army, was created during the First World War. At first, the plan was to ship Canadian trees overseas, but since space aboard merchant ships was so limited, our skilled lumberjacks were sent to harvest the vast forests of Scotland instead.

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